Revealed: The 'hero' army sniper who gunned down a waiter in racist murder when he was just 15

Saturday 21 June 2008 09:38 BST

Michael Ross tried to escape after being convicted of murder

A Gulf War hero convicted of murder leapt from the dock and tried to escape as he was led away yesterday.

Michael Ross, 29, had to be wrestled to the ground by a court official.

The Black Watch sergeant had been found guilty of the ‘savage, merciless and pointless’ murder of a Bangladeshi waiter 14 years ago.

In that 14-year period, Ross built a career in the British army.

He joined Scotland's famous Black Watch regiment at the age of 17 and progressed through the ranks, eventually becoming the sergeant of a sniper platoon.

His service included a tour of duty in Iraq in which some of his fellow Black Watch comrades were killed.

Ross was one of 12 soldiers decorated for outstanding service in Iraq in 2005 and was even mentioned in dispatches for showing bravery following two improvised explosive attacks in north Babil.

He was just 15 when he walked into an Orkney restaurant and shot Shamsuddin Mahmood at point-blank range.

The murder, the first on the island for 25 years, sent shockwaves through the 20,000-strong community.

The verdict brought to an end one of the longest-running criminal inquiries in Scottish legal history.

It also finally brought justice to Mr Mahmood’s grieving family.

His brother, barrister Abul Shafiuddin, said: ‘He was our baby brother and at least we know the person who killed him will be punished.’

Ross was also found guilty by majority of attempting to defeat the ends of justice by disposing of the murder weapon and changing his clothing.

During the trial, it emerged that his policeman father had been jailed for hampering the investigation by withholding crucial evidence.

Advocate depute Brian McConnachie QC, told the court the prosecution’s case against Ross was based on ‘compelling, unanswerable’ circumstantial evidence.

The Mumutaz Indian Tandoori Restaurant in Kirkwall, Orkney, where Shamsuddin Mahmood was murdered

The Mumutaz Indian Tandoori Restaurant in Kirkwall, Orkney, where Shamsuddin Mahmood was murdered

Donald Findlay QC, defending, had insisted it was unthinkable for a 15-year-old to have committed such a crime, suggesting the killing bore all the hallmarks of a ‘professional hit’.

Bangladeshi waiter Shamsuddin Mahmood was shot at point-blank range

Bangladeshi waiter Shamsuddin Mahmood was shot at point-blank range

Following a six-week trial, however, the jury took just four hours to find Ross guilty of murder by a majority verdict.

The court heard that, as a youth, Ross harboured extreme racist views that drove him to hunt down and murder one of the island’s few Asian residents.

He entered the busy Mumutaz Tandoori in Kirkwall wearing a balaclava to conceal his identity shortly after 7pm on the evening of June 2, 1994, and executed the 26-year-old waiter before calmly walking out of the restaurant.

Ross became the main suspect just months after the murder, but police did not have enough evidence to charge him.

The breakthrough came when a new witness walked into Kirkwall police station in 2006 with a note saying he had seen the killer in public toilets on the night of the murder brandishing a gun and identified him as Michael Ross.

Judge Lord Hardie ordered that Ross be remanded in custody, to be sentenced on July 11.